Thursday, April 2, 2009

The Condiment Queen Makes Her Own Mustard

Ivy, the big-hearted host of Kopiaste...To Greek Hospitality, and one of the three founders of BloggerAid, the initiative to raise money and awareness of global hunger issues, is this week's host for Weekend Herb Blogging, so of course I had to cook up something interesting to blog about and send over to her for the roundup.

Weekend Herb Blogging is a weekly food blogger event that was started by Kalyn's Kitchen to highlight recipes and information about fruits, vegetables and herbs. Now in its third year, the popular event is now headquartered over at Cook (Almost) Anything at Least Once.

After a recent trip to India Bazaar in Albany where I stocked up on grains, legumes, and bulk spices, I wanted to experiment with making my own homemade mustard. I had a big bag of yellow mustard seeds (about 3 cups worth for $3.99) and after performing some condiment research, I settled on this recipe which made a little over a pint of bright yellow and SHARP mustard.

Of course I couldn't wait a week for the mustard to mellow before trying some, and it really does clean out your sinuses. It is SHARP, SHARP, SHARP! Even a week later, I've tried a little smidgeon on a sandwich and it is quite assertive, almost like a wasabi mustard. A dab on a piece of Cheddar is delightful, but it is a strong condiment, so I'm using it very sparingly.

I am looking forward to trying out some other mustard recipes once I get back to India Bazaar. I think next time I'd like to make a coarse-grained brown mustard with lots of crunchy seeds to pop and my daughter is wild for honey mustard, especially with her French Fries, so anyone else out there in cyberspace has experimented with making their own mustards, I'd love to receive any recipes or tips.

This mustard trial has prompted me to seek out making other homemade condiments. I've canned homemade spicy salsa many times, but perhaps some homemade ketchup or hot sauce may be concocted in the Crispy Kitchen this summer. Saveur magazine recently had a great web article about making various homemade condiments, including a grainy Guinness mustard (I'll have to try that with a gluten-free Redbridge beer), red curry paste, sofrito, and a bunch of other spicy condiments.

Ivy will be posting the roundup of other blog posts from around the world highlighting vegetables, herbs, fruits and seeds, so be sure to check back in at Kopiaste after the Sunday deadline.

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This blog is an original work of creative expression by Rachel Jagareski. All photos, text, and original recipes herein are copyrighted by the author/artist Rachel Jagareski (c) 2007-2015. All rights are reserved by the author. Please contact me for permission to republish or broadcast any material beyond your own personal use. Thank you.